Approximately 94% of employees prefer to work for a company that invests in training.[1] [2]  The trick for management is delivering the right type of training. Employees want training that helps them advance in their careers and keeps them relevant in the marketplace. According to a McKinsey study[3] , almost two-thirds of business transformations fail because the workforce is underskilled.

This underskilled workforce is particularly apparent in the cybersecurity space. Businesses are experiencing an uptick in cyber threats and crime, while their workforce isn’t skilled in current cybersecurity technologies, applications, and tactics to supply adequate protection. Providing training in this area boosts employee capabilities (as well as morale, loyalty, and retention) while boosting the organization’s cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity is one of myriad topics that contribute to overall business health and progress. The trick is finding a professional training vendor who can deliver an effective learning experience. There are so many to choose from! Here are four considerations to include in your due diligence checklist.

1. Define your needs. Good, effective training begins with being clear on what your employees and organization need in terms of skill-building. If you need advanced IT training courses, make sure to choose a vendor that offers certified courses by well-known curriculum developers, like CompTIA, (ISC)², ISACA, Microsoft, etc. Include your employees in the planning stage to ensure you have buy-in as well as accurate information in terms of what training will truly benefit the organization.

• Look for program variety.Your company’s needs and goals are unique. You also want the ability to offer your workforce training that suits their learning style. Do you need a deep dive into the tech’s technicalities or a high level awareness builder? Do you want your employees certified? Is there an skill-building path? Finding a vendor that excels at all training levels positions you for a long-term relationship with them negating the need to repeat the vendor search as your workers’ abilities advance.

• Diverse delivery modalities. As work models expand to include remote and hybrid opportunities, it’s imperative to source training that accommodates these new working styles. Not all training vendors provide alternate or blended delivery modalities. Look for a training vendor that offers a variety of delivery modalities to ensure you can offer training on a platform that resonates with your workers.

• Subject matter expertise. In many cases, professional training vendors are simply go-betweens that connect organizations to curricula. However, there are vendors with subject matter expertise, such as CCS Learning Academy. It’s worth looking for these speciality corporate training programs as they deliver insight into their sector (in our case, this is tech) that other vendors can’t provide.

Bonus considerations

There’s a lot to check when sourcing a professional training vendor. Here are a four bonus questions to ask:

1. Are the trainings customized?
2. How current is the training content?
3. What are the trainers’ experience? Are they working professionals? Are they certified in the subject area?
4. Is there a hands-on component?

The CCS Learning Academy difference

CCS Learning Academy has been in the professional training space for 25+ years. Our affiliation with CCS Global Tech, a full-service IT provider, gives us insight into today’s tech industry. We use this knowledge to inform our course offering and shape our enterprise training programs to deliver the knowledge and skills today’s tech professionals need to be effective and relevant in the current business environment.

We offer industry-standard IT training, accelerate bootcamp programs, and certified training courses by vendors on a variety of delivery platforms.Click here to connect with us for a free consultation.